Foreman vs Frazier for The Heavyweight Title in 1973 (Video)

by Chuck Ness

George Foreman, and Joe Frazier are two world class boxers who's careers extended through the end of the golden age of boxing. They both gave credit to our Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation when they were at the height of their careers, and never wavered from their faith.

So, it's only fitting I share this classic boxing match on my blog for you. Two of God's gladiators going at it in the ring. Anyone remember this January 22, 1973 heavyweight title match between then Champion Joe Frazier and the challenger George Foreman?

I was 16 at the time, and it wasn't covered on the radio, because by that time there was too much money to be made off of the new pay per view thing they called HBO. I remember older boxing fans I knew being angry, because before HBO you could catch the great fights on radio. To them, HBO killed what was great about boxing.

Mind you, this was the early "70"s so the vast majority of Americans still used rabbit ears to get a good picture. Cable was still in it's early stages, and unless you lived in or at least near a bigger city you were out of luck.  I grew up In Duluth MN, but not only those in the downtown area had access. So all of a sudden, we had to wait for the paper to to give us all the information on a big fight. It would eventually be televised on The Wide World of Sports.

Well, the fight lasted only two rounds, with George Foreman scoring a technical knockout at 1:35 of the second round. In a huge upset, he become the new Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World. These two men, and a few other boxing greats, of the time, were heroes to me. Two of the greatest, and unlike so many today, or like Ali of their time, these two men were humble and gracious to everyone. I stumbled upon this video looking for something else on an old HD I use for storage. So I decided to share it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  

George Foreman and Joe Frazier fought twice, the one George took the belt from Joe in the 1973 fight, and a rematch in 1976 that Frazier lost to George by another TKO. They were opponents twice, but never rivals. They had the utmost respect for each other, and their friendship lasted to the day Frazier died.

Their bond was so close that when Frazier died, Foremen could not bring himself to see his friend buried. George's explanation for not attending the service was, in his words, “I loved this one,” referring to his two-time opponent.

George Foreman is the last surviving boxer from that great era. His respect for Frazier was unrivaled in how he looked at other boxing greats.  He stated that Frazier was the only opponent he was ever afraid of, and his praise continued by calling Frazier “a machine, a giant killer.”

( excerpts from Sportscasting.com )